| John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
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| NUMBER: | 4416 |
| AUTHOR: | Edmund Burke (1729–1797) |
| QUOTATION: | You had that action and counteraction which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 277. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| | Note 1.
Quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors (What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect).—Horace: Epistle i. 12, 19.
Mr. Breen, in his “Modern English Literature,” says: “This remarkable thought Alison the historian has turned to good account; it occurs so often in his disquisitions that he seems to have made it the staple of all wisdom and the basis of every truth.” [back] |
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